


'met' is an overstatement

by bluebell_like_the_flower



Series: colorblind soulmates [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Boys In Love, Canon Compliant, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Everyone Is Gay, Growing Up Together, How Do I Tag, I'm Bad At Tagging, Kinda, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Mentioned Iwaizumi Hajime, Playgrounds, Post-Time Skip, Romantic Soulmates, Strangers to Lovers, but tHIS AINT ABOUT THEM, iwadai is mentioned, out of all places they had to meet in a dunkin, suga has a mystery soulmate, the last bit is post timeskip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 22:40:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29500086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluebell_like_the_flower/pseuds/bluebell_like_the_flower
Summary: When Kei is just five years old, his world explodes into color. But he loses the boy who caused it. So what happens after?
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Series: colorblind soulmates [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2166903
Kudos: 57





	'met' is an overstatement

**Author's Note:**

> this is a cliche colorblind soulmate au because i had a shower thought. pls enjoy!

If you’d asked Kei how long he’d been seeing color, he’d say forever. It’s easier for him to say that than to say ‘Well, it's a long story’. To be honest, for as long as his memory stretches, it’s always been that way. 

The farthest back he can remember was the day his vision switched to the blindingly bright color scheme of the world. His mother had brought Akiteru and him to a small coffee shop- Dunkin Donuts if his memory serves him- to get them a snack because of how well they’d been doing in school. He remembers his brother and mom talking about the newest Transformers episode, while Kei was trying to get a good grasp on his donut with his tiny five year old hands. Behind him, he heard the doorbell ring and- being the curious kid he was- turned around to look. 

That's when he made eye contact with _him_ and his world exploded into different shades of colors he hadn’t even learned yet. The boy had freckles splattered across his nose and his hair was about as long as Kei’s. They maintained eye-contact, the boys walking pace even stopping right there in the doorway. The only thing that drew him away was his mother gently tugging his hand and saying “Tadashi? C’mon sweetie, we have to hurry up or we’ll be late.”

“Kei?” He heard his own mother ask, “What’s wrong sweetheart?” She placed her hand on his back in a comforting way, an attempt to get his attention. 

He didn’t know how to phrase this to her, even with his limited vocabulary. So he just pointed. The boy seemed to be trying to tug away from his mom but either her grip was too strong or he was too scared to let go. Kei’s mom turned to look at the boy and his mother, Akiteru looking over as well. They didn’t understand. 

“What is it?” Akiteru asked, sipping his green tea.

“Him!” Kei called, “He’s… he’s different!”

“Don’t be rude, Kei! You can’t just say that out loud!” His mother scolded.

“No wait. Mom.” Akiteru came to his defence, “Could that be his soulmate?” 

Kei suddenly felt like he was under intense scrutiny, both his mothers and Akiteru’s stares turned to him. Examining him like a lab subject rather than a five year old. 

“Kei, are you seeing color?” His mother asked, her tone was calm and stable, comforting. 

He just nodded, turning his attention back to the freckled boy at the counter, who was watching his mother. If his mom and brother had said anything to him then, he either doesn’t remember it or he was too focused on the boy to hear. 

He watched with devastation in his heart as the boy and his mother left the store. 

\--

By the time he reached the age of ten, Kei had slowly lost the details of that day. All he remembered was the pretty boy with black hair that had a green hue in the light, and the dusting of freckles on his nose and cheeks. 

As he walked home, he heard distant shouting from the park close to school. Some bully was making fun of a kid's freckles, another poking at the kids apparent wimpiness, a third shouting that he ‘needs to be trained’ and saying he was in charge of carrying their school bags. It went silent for a moment after that, and Kei stopped his pace to watch what was going on. The kid was on the ground, three bags on the floor beside him, and he had tears in the corners of his eyes. 

“He cries over every little thing!” one of the bullies shouted. 

“Crybaby!” another yelled. 

The kid on the ground looked up at Kei, and he felt something click in him. Some distant memory that he couldn’t place right then and there. 

“Hey! What’re you looking at?” the head bully turned his attention to Kei, pointing an accusatory finger at him.

“Dude! I think he’s older than us!” the one beside him whispered, though it wasn’t that quiet.

“No! He’s in class 3!” the head one said back, sounding much more cocky than was necessary.

Kei turned up his nose at the bullies, which wasn’t hard as they were a good 25 centimeters shorter than him. He looked at them and smirked, “That’s so lame.” He turned to walk away but stopped when the bully ran up behind him and grabbed the side of his bag.

“I’m talking to you!”

Kei turned to face the kid, having too physically tilt his head down to look at him. To add to the ‘scary’ effect, he even bent his torso down to hover over him. 

“Well-” the bully started, “your- your glasses are stupid! Get outta here four eyes!” he said before running back to his friends. 

Kei just laughed at him and started walking away, though he felt a pair of eyes on his back as he left. 

\-- 

The next day was...interesting to say the least. He had Boy Scout volleyball practice that day, and showed up on time like he was supposed to. But, when he got there, he noticed the boy from yesterday peeking into the gym. But Kei paid him no mind as he walked in, offering a simple “Excuse me.” as he passed by. 

“Thank you for the other day!” He heard the boy behind him say and Kei turned to face him, finding him bowing. Kei raised an eyebrow at him, he had more or less forgotten the incident. “At the park? ”

Ah, now he remembered. “Oh! Okay. What’re you doing here?” 

“I- Well- I wanted to play a sport too,” the boy started, “but all the guys in baseball and soccer were big and scary… so I thought I’d be okay here.”

Kei felt his facial expression soften as he heard what the boy had to say. He vaguely remembered what it was like being afraid of big tall people before he had a growth spurt. He was even afraid of his brother sometimes, but that was just intimidation. 

“Hey!” The boy said suddenly, snapping him out of his thoughts, “Your shoes are really cool! I’ve always just used the ones they provide in gym class.”

“Oh, thanks.” Kei looked down at his shoes, “They’re my big brother’s. I’m just borrowing them until I get new ones next week.”

“Woah!! Your brother plays volleyball too?”

“He’s playing at a powerhouse called Karasuno High School!” Kei really couldn’t stop himself from showing off, even if he tried. “And uh… he’s the ace!”

 _‘Why am I saying this?’_ He thought to himself, _‘I don’t even know him! He looks really excited though… and he’s kinda cute when he’s excited. Wait-’_

\--

He went home that day and told his mom about everything. About the boy he saw getting bullied, about how he saw the boy again at volleyball practice. He may or may not have gone a bit too into detail about what he had looked like. 

“And, mom, he said his name was Tadashi. He seemed so familiar but I don’t know why!” Kei had practically abandoned his homework at that point, internally opting to finish it later. 

His mom turned to look at him, turning the burner on the stove down a little so the food wouldn't burn. “Kei, sweetie, you’ve had lessons on soulmates before right?”

“Yes?” Kei really didn’t understand how soulmates factored into this conversation.

“So you know that once you’ve met your soulmate, you can see color right?”

He nodded.

“Kei, you can see color right?”

He nodded again.

“Think back to when you were around five, tell me if his description and name make any sense to you.” With that, his mother turned the burner back up and continued cooking.

What did she mean? Five years old is a very specific age. He thought back to when he saw color for the first time. To the boy in the Dunkin Donuts doorway, staring back at Kei like he had just seen an angel. 

Yamaguchi Tadashi was his soulmate.

How had he not pieced that together?

He had to tell Tadashi. Now.

“I’ll be back!” He called out to his mom, tripping over his own feet as he jumped down from his seat at the kitchen table to run to the doorway and slip his shoes and jacket on. 

“Be back by dinner, Kei!” His mom called from the kitchen, but he barely heard it. 

He ran down the street, remembering where Tadashi had told him he hung out before dinnertime. He found him there, at the park that conjoins Kei’s neighborhood and Tadashi’s. He was sitting on a swing, pushing himself back and forth with his feet. He looked lonely. 

“Tadashi!” Kei called out as he ran, seeing his friend’s face light up at his voice. 

“Kei? Why’re you out so late?” Tadashi stood up from the swing as Kei approached. 

“I could really ask you the same question.” Kei responded between pants. “Anyway, I have something to tell you.”

Tadashi stuffed his hands into his hoodie pocket, “What’s up?”

“Tadashi, you can see color right?”

\--

Ever since that day, Kei and Tadashi never really left each other's sides. Their relationship slowly grew from strangers to friends to best friends, they only ever really took the big step to boyfriends in their last year of middle school. They never really told anybody about it (except their families but that’s different), instead opting to let people find out on their own. Rather through gossip or asking them directly. 

The only exception to that rule was the Karasuno Volleyball Club.

They really never meant to, they were at a training camp and decided to just have a bonding moment before lights out. Kei doesn’t remember exactly how the topic came up, but they started talking about soulmates.

“Tadashi! Have you met your soulmate already?” Hinata asked

Tadashi nodded, lifting Kei’s hand (that he was already holding) and kissing his knuckles. Kei just turned his head away and pushed his glasses up on his nose, a tic he had picked up when they first started dating that meant he was flustered. The rest of the team made cooing noises at them. 

“How long have you guys been together?” Daichi asked, pocketing his phone after he was done texting his soulmate, Iwaizumi. 

Kei turned his head back to the conversation and raised his eyebrow, “Do you mean when we first saw color or when we started dating? There's like ten years in-between that, Daichi.” 

The team erupted into confused noises, he could make out Tanaka and Nishinoya screaming “WHAT THE HELL GUYS??? WE DIDN’T GET TO FIND OUT UNTIL LAST YEAR” and saw Hinata screaming “THAT'S NO FAIR MY SOULMATE HASN'T EVEN ASKED ME OUT YET.”

Tadashi just laughed, and Kei had to stop himself from staring at him with the fond smile that his soulmate loves so much.

“Well maybe if you guys would _calm down_ Tadashi and Tsukishima would tell us.” Sugawara cut into the yelling and everyone seemed to quiet down immediately. 

“No no, Suga, now that you’ve cut in.” Kei smirked at his upperclassman and Tadashi could faintly see fear in Sugawara’s eyes, “Tell us about _your_ soulmate. You’ve known him for a while right?”

“Yes but that's not the point, Tsukishima.” Sugawara chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Well it’s the point now.”

“He...doesn’t want to say anything yet. He really doesn’t want to go public until after high school.”

“Awww but that's no fun!” Tanaka groaned.

“It’s what he wants, Tanaka, and I respect him for it. Now, Tadashi. Please tell us about how you two met.”

“‘Met’ is really an overstatement, Suga.” Kei said as he rolled his eyes. 

\--

Kei was really wondering what Tadashi was doing, dragging him to the park that interconnected their childhood neighborhoods. It was just after a Sendai Frogs game- Tadashi hadn’t even given him enough time to change out of his jersey. 

“Tadashi, light of my life, my _literal_ soulmate.” Kei asked, stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets, “What the fuck are we doing here.” Tadashi laughed, and Kei couldn’t stand to stay irritated at him. 

“You remember what you asked me here?” Tadashi asked, letting go of Kei’s hand and crossing the woodchipped ground to the swings, standing up on one and using his upper body strength to swing him.

“Be careful, idiot.” Kei said as he stalled for time, trying to remember what he had asked him. 

“I’m guessing you don’t remember?”

Kei pushed his glasses up and turned his head away, “No, I don’t.”

“Good job being honest.” He could hear the smile in Tadashi’s voice, “You asked me if I could see color here, if I had a soulmate.”

“You remember that? That was over ten years ago.”

Tadashi chuckled, “How could I not?”

Kei turned his head back, meeting Tadashi’s face, his lips broken out into a smile and a blush dusting over his beautiful freckles, “You still haven’t explained why we’re here.”

“Well, I wanted to ask you something.”

“What is it?”

“Close your eyes for a second.”

“What? Why?”

“Just humor me, Kei. Please?”

Kei sighed, but covered his eyes with his hands. With one of his senses lost, all his focus went to hearing. He could make out the sound of Tadashi jumping down from the swing and stumbling a bit, muttering “Oop, fuck”. He could hear Tadashi’s footsteps on the old mulch and they stopped just in front of Kei. 

“Can I open my eyes now?”

“Eat shit.”

“I’m gonna take that as a yes.” He heard Tadashi laugh, so he knew he was okay to uncover his eyes. When he looked, he found that his soulmate wasn’t where he was supposed to be, instead he was kneeling on the ground in front of him, a velvet ring box in hand. 

“Tadashi?” Kei sorta hated that he could hear his voice break. This wasn’t happening right? This was a dream! It had to be! He’d always thought his cold-hearted front would push people away. 

But for some reason, Tadashi stayed. 

“Sometimes I think that if we had started our friendship back when we were five, things might’ve been different. But I really wouldn’t have this any other way. Because we got together in the end. We got our happy ending, even if it took close to a decade. I love you Kei, so much. Will you marry me?” Tadashi had given his practiced speech, feeling tears come to his eyes. But he hadn’t noticed the tears streaming down Kei’s own face. The smile resting on his lips was bright, so bright. Tadashi wished he’d had a camera to capture that smile forever. 

Kei really couldn’t produce words, even if he tried. He instead opted for nodding, reaching down to pull Tadashi up from the ground and swept him into a kiss. A kiss so tender and emotional, it sent the tears in the corners of Tadashi’s eyes cascading down his cheeks. He felt their tears mix together on their faces and he could taste their saltiness. 

When they pulled apart, Tadashi reached up and wiped Kei’s tears away, “Is that a yes?”

“Of course it is, idiot.”


End file.
